


Substitute Date

by LabuKelabu



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), Gotham Academy (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Jason's POV, Jason's just your normal big brother, batfamily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 11:32:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11439987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LabuKelabu/pseuds/LabuKelabu
Summary: Jason cannot believe Damian a.k.a the demon brat has a girlfriend. All of the bat-family was telling him about it, but he just couldn't see it. It's Damian for god sake! Until one day, he accidentally bump into said girlfriend at a diner. Half of his mind says to just leave, but half of it was curious over the petite raven-haired girl that seems to be dating his baby brother. Guess which side of him won?orA side-story prequel to Mapping Us Out :D as mentioned at the end of the 2nd chapter.





	Substitute Date

**Author's Note:**

> Helooo...  
> As I said at the summary this is under the same world with that of my other work Mapping Us Out. You don't need to read the fict to understand this one since it is stand-alone prequel side-story. BUT!! I'd totally appreciate it if you'd read the original fict :D
> 
> It's more of a Jason-Maps kind of thing. I hope you like it!!

When Tim first gushed out about Damian's _girlfriend_ , Jason thought he was just rambling incoherently at three in the morning about the most ridiculous topic ever (like who would actually gave their consent to date the demon brat). Tim never actually mentioned the topic again, which further confirms Jason's theory on the bull-crap news.

But then one day Dickibird brought up the topic over lunch with an enthusiastic Steph and fond-looking Cass, and Jason was all, "You're shitting me?", which resulted in three pairs of disapproving eyes piercing his soul. Steph was the first one to chuckle it off, saying that seeing is believing. So, she whipped out her phone and showed him the girl's instagram account. The girl, Mia "Maps" Mizoguchi, was a small, energetic looking Asian girl that types the funniest captions in her pictures. Judging from her uniform she's definitely a Gotham Academy student, which explains how she met the demon brat. Jason then continued to scroll down her Instafeeds. Most of the pictures she posted were random shots of the sky and animals or that of her and her friends, but then hello... There was a picture of Damian circling an arm around her neck. It was supposed to be a selfie, but Damian was looking away with a tint of red on his cheeks and ears. The caption was a simple red heart emoji. Jason found other pictures of Damian and it was all captioned with the same red heart emoji. When Jason looked up towards Steph, Dick and Cass, they were all cooing at how adorable the two are.

Jason still thought it was unfathomable that the demon spawn can learn to love another soul. It all changed though on one rainy day at the manor, when the outlaw walks in on a sleeping Damian. The teen had left an opened sketchpad on his lap, while snoozing off defenselessly with a pencil still in hand. Damian is lot of things, but a bad artist isn't one of them. Heck, Jason would wholeheartedly vouch for the quality of Damian's art, but compared to the longs list of paintings and drawings Damian had ever made, this one simple sketch was breathtakingly beautiful. You can see the heart of the artist in that sketch, a genuine loving affection poured candidly into those pencil lines. It was a picture of a sweet smiling girl with such sparkles in her eyes brighter than the northern skies.

So when Jason saw the very same smile and sparkling eyes on a particularly petite, raven-haired girl sitting alone at the diner table he happened to enter, he couldn't help but cursed his dumb luck. Sure he had always wanted to meet the girl that managed to tame his baby brother, but walking into her alone at a diner without any prior introduction is borderline creepy even in Jason's Book. So he opted for the next best thing, he took a seat by the counter that is within earshot and side-glance towards the little lady. Say what you want, but he was not being a creepy stalker, he was just an overly curious big brother over the love life of his most heartless sibling.

"What do you mean you can't make it?" said a high-pitched voice coming from Maps's table. If it were not for the amount of training Jason had on spying people, he would've turned his head towards the booth on reflect. At the very least he registered the voice as Mia "Maps" Mizogushi's voice and kept a discreet side-glance every now and then.

"I don't care where you are," continued Maps as she shouted to what appears to be a mobile phone. "Do you even know how hard it is for me to sneak out from the academy? It's Friday afternoon for god's sake."

Listening to it Jason remembered his own days in Gotham academy. Yup, that place was so strict, especially to dorm students. _Wait_ , Jason thought to himself, _Mia is a dorm student right? So, she can't be waiting for a friend from school, unless she is waiting for..._

"Damiaaaan..." Mia cuts Jason's train of thoughts with an exasperated voice.

_Bingo_

Jason then heard a long sigh, "Okay, I do care where you are, but stiiiill..." the sound of anger dissipated into a disappointed whine, similar to the sound that kids make when their parents had broken their promises. "Fine, see you when I see you. Good luck. Stay safe."

Jason heard another long sigh and when he stole a glance towards the petite girl, he was reminded of a wet abandon puppy in the middle of a storm. Seeing that face made something in Jason's chest churn. Said puppy (read: Maps) then took the plastic promotional material and called the waitress. "Miss can I order this?" Maps pointed at the Friday promo special, which is a couple-set blueberry waffle and milkshake for a very decent price.

"I'm sorry, but no can do. The Blueberry Buddy Promo can only be ordered by two people," replied the waitress nonchalantly.

"My date's just gonna be a bit late, so can't you just pleeease," pleaded Maps with puppy-dog eyes.

The waitress bit her lip at that, Jason doubt anybody wouldn't feel sorry after seeing such face, "Really sweetheart I wish I can help, but unless your date shows up right now in front of us both, you'll have to order something else." 

Again Maps pouted. Jason scratched the back of his neck and _f*ck it,_ he'll just wing it.

"Well I think I can remedy that," Jason steps in leaning towards the sofa Maps was sitting. "You only need two people for the deal right? I'll be her date."

Both Maps and the waitress raised their eyebrow, the latter gave a more skeptical stare. "Why there handsome, as much as I don't mind you go picking up girls, but I'll have to draw the line here, 'cuz she's a minor and you look like her junky uncle." The waitress crossed her arm and gave a disapproving mother-like glare towards Jason, "And don't you dare push your luck hotshot, I have somebody on speed dial that can make you shit you pants off."

"Who, Batman?" Jason retorted.

"No," she sang, "just a prick that shows no mercy to anybody fumbling with minors," a sneer grew as she looks up to Jason, "the Red Hood."

Oh Jason like this feisty waitress. He was about to open his mouth again when Maps cuts in.

"Wait, Jason?" the raven-haired girl was blinking owlishly, staring at Jason from head to toe. "Oh my god, how can I not recognize you!" she squealed and turned her face towards the waitress with a gleeful smile, "There's no need to call anybody, he's my boyfriend's brother. I just didn't recognize him back there without his beard." 

Instinctively Jason touched his face and rubbed his smooth chin, he did just shave this morning. _Smart girl,_ he thought.

The waitress still gave him a look, but proceeded to acknowledge him anyway, "One Blueberry Buddy it is then," she turned her heels, but as soon as Jason took a seat opposite to Maps, she glare back at him giving the two finger 'I have my eyes on you' gesture. Jason definitely likes that waitress.

"Oh my god," sang Maps making Jason turned his head towards the petite girl, "I can't believe I actually get to meet you! I heard so much about you from the family, but Damian don't want us to meet saying things like you don't believe that we're dating anyway, so it was no point or something. Well you were never at the manor anyway, so the chances of us bumping in to each other were super low, but to think that we'd actually meet here is incredible, but wait-"

Jason was taken aback by how much of a chatterbox Maps is. At first he thought that she was just blabbering incoherently, but Jason was again surprised by how easy it is to talk to her. Her seemingly incoherent chatter somehow drifted towards the topic of books and when she dropped a Jane Austin reference, Jason finally dropped his facade and openly enjoyed her company. When they talk about Sherlock Holmes, somehow the conversation drifted towards Batman, and when they talk about Batman they again drifted their conversation towards gore and crimes. Now, they are talking about lucid dream. Seriously how did that topic came up, perhaps it was from talking about Scarecrow's fear toxin. Yeah, most likely they drifted away from there.

The more the two talk, the more Jason is amazed with Maps's wide range of knowledge combined with her broad point of view that gives out a heartwarming, non-judgmental stance in her opinions. Nothing seems to surprise her, but at the same time everything seems to excite her. It was super easy to fall in love with Maps, a little overbearing, but overall a lovely soul. Moreover, her face is definitely on the cute side. Explains why Damian likes her enough to call her his girlfriend, but the question still remains: why would Maps go out with the demon brat?

"Sorry in advance, but I kinda have to ask, why are you-" Jason was cut off by the waitress who brought their order.

"One Blueberry Buddy for the lovely lady," she said smilingly towards Maps as she placed a large milkshake glass in front of her, she then turned to face Jason and made a salty look while slamming his milkshake on the table, "I still have my eyes on you, punk." Then proceeded to place a large plate of a tall mountain of juicy, golden waffles with glistening maple syrup, pearl-like blueberries and clouds of whipped cream. "Enjoy it while it's hot." The waitress said smiling and walked away.

"Wow, this looks like an erupting Vesuvius!" exclaimed Maps with awe-struck eyes and gaping mouth.

"More like an erupting Krakatoa, no?" Jason added with the same awe-struck eyes and gaping mouth, "Damn, this thing is huge! Are you sure the price is what its says it is?" he asked Maps as he grabbed the plastic promotional material that stands happily at the end of the table. He then scoffed and pushed it back to where he took it, "I hope it doesn't taste like shit though."

"Well, the jury's still out," Maps replied, plunging her fork to take two strips of crispy soft waffles, "Lets dig in!" 

Jason follow suit and took two strips of waffles onto his plate. One waffle strip itself is so thick, surrounded by a golden crust that made a satisfying sound as Jason cuts through with a knife. Once passed the crust, the insides of the waffle was bouncy and fluffy. He gathered a generous amount of syrup, blueberry and cream on top of his sliced waffle and gobbled it whole. The taste was like an amusement park unleashed in his mouth. The buttery juiciness from the waffle, the sweet tang from the blueberry-maple combination, and the soft fluffy milky texture of the whipped cream. It was an explosion of gastronomic experience. Jason couldn't help but smile. 

He raised his face to express his baffled taste buds only to find Maps looking down while shaking her hand. Jason's face fell, panic started to pick up. One second ago the girl was all bubbly and happy and now she looked like she could commence murder. He leans down trying to reach a hand towards Maps's shoulder when he was cut off when he heard Maps's grumbling voice.  

"Leave it to Damian to ask you out to eat such sinful food," Maps mumbled, mostly to herself, as she gobbled down more and more waffle. She looks fuming with range, but looking at it closely it was only half-hearted, as she hiccups the words, "It's so good" every here and there.

Panic drains out of Jason's body, replaced with a heavy chuckle. "Say, why are-"

"Why am I dating Damian?" shot Maps, while she took a slurp at her milkshake.

Dumbfounded Jason just replied, "Yeah...he's not exactly..." the outlaw looked away to the window while making a circling gesture with his hand, "boyfriend material." 

At that Maps looked genuinely offended. "I'm not sure if you should say that about your own brother. Well, I guess he's far from the perfect boyfriend, heck I'm not even sure if he's a perfect human, but he's Damian," she looked down at her milkshake for a second then looked up back to Jason, "yeah, he's Damian, and that's all that matters." A sweet toothy smile grew on Maps's face. The exact same smile that Jason saw on Damian's sketches.

Jason rubbed a hand behind his neck and chuckled, "I hope you know that Damian's too lucky to have you?"

"So I've been told," Maps's replied cheekily. "Mostly by Tim, occasionally Maya."

At that Jason let out a bark of laughter. Damian may have been his baby brother, but if anything were to go wrong with this relationship, he can see himself taking Maps's side at a drop of a hat. "Care to fill me in why demon brat bailed? I can knock some sense to him to think that he'd miss out on a date with you."

"That is super tempting," replied Maps sounding less chirpy than Jason had thought she'd be at the idea. Her faced looked irritated, but also sad and gloomy as she looked outside the window, "It was a last minute Titan thing, Robin just _has_ to be there." 

"He sure got you down in the dumps," Maps just shrug at Jason's comment. "Sorry your replacement couldn't be much of a company." 

Maps's eye shot wide, "What? No way! If anything I should be sorry for taking your time and thank you! I mean you really saved the day for me! Or else my effort for sneaking out of the dorm would all be in vain." explained Maps animatedly. She continued on with a sheepish smile, "It's just that whenever we go on a date, it would usually be some impromptu situation or just me dragging him out somewhere." her sheepish smile turned into a sweet loving one as she went on, "He never actively asks me on a date. So, I was actually suuuper exited for this."

Jason just blinks owlishly after hearing Maps's candid remarks. It was so sweet of her to say that, as sweet as the milkshake in front of him. He inwardly chuckled, but couldn't help from outwardly smiling. _Damian is one lucky brat._

Jason took a sip at his milkshake and said something about how his dates usually went off, trying to change the topic. Maps took the bait and they ended up talking about the time him, Roy and Starfire accidentally brought his date into outer space.

They continued to eat the waffles in front of them, while telling each other embarrassing stories and outlandish nerdy references. Even after the last piece of waffle was eaten, they were still chatting, until Maps's phone went off.

"Oh crap, I need to get back!" The sky was turning red already. It seems true that time flies when you have good company.

"Want me to give you a ride back?" asked Jason. It was the least he could do. Once the sun fully sets, Gotham is no place for a teenager in school uniform all alone. 

"That is a wise offer you made, and it'd be wise to take it. I'm a wise person so, I'm taking it, Thank you!" Map's replied. "Let me just get this," Maps was scurrying for the bill only to see it at Jason's hand.

"No, let me take this," Jason stood up and pulling the bill out of Maps's reach, despite her protests of insisting to pay her share. "Just take it as my payment for a long list of blackmail materials. Wait for me outside okay." he walks towards the cashier and finds their waitress waiting behind them. Her face was no longer sporting the skeptical look she had when they first met. He wanted to say something, but kept his mouth shut. Maps is waiting outside, he wouldn't want to make her wait. He could always come back to the diner if he wants to meet this waitress again anyway.

Jason walks out of the diner and find Maps waiting by the door while rocking her feet back and forth. "By the way, the waitress name is Valarie," said Maps nonchalantly.

"You're saying this because?"

"You seem to like her, just don't accidentally take her to outer space." Maps looked up at Jason grinning mischievously.

"Noted," Jason replied with a sly smile, "my bike's this way."

Maps's phone went off again and after she red what's on the screen, she hurriedly looked at the other side of the road. Her face lit up, the brightest Jason had seen through out the day. "Would you forgive me if I turned down the offer? It seems that my ride's here."

"Ouch," Jason replied putting a hand on his chest dramatically. They laughed at the gesture and Jason gave a sly smile to Maps, "Pay me back next time?" 

"Definitely! I still have a truck load of black mail materials you'd love to hear." That was Maps's parting words as she skips towards the other side of the street. There Jason finally saw Damian in civil clothes looking all worn down beside his bike, but immediately smiled when Maps was at his line of sight. The brat looked troubled when he was talking to Maps. Perhaps he was apologizing, but Maps jumps and gave him a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek. She laughed it off, while he smiled softly. Damian handed Maps a helmet when she was talking and was pointing out towards the diner and vaguely towards Jason. Damian snaps his sight towards the other side of the road, donning a face of somebody looking for vengeance. That was Jason's cue to head out. He took out his key and starts the ignition. Before putting on his helmet he stole a glance towards the other side of the road. The silly couple was already gone. Jason smirked and finally puts on his helmet.

_Damian you lucky brat._

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first story of Maps meeting one of the bat-family. If you guys like this please tell me in the comments, 'cuz I might write about how she meets the other family member or even how Damian meets Maps's family ><
> 
> Anyway and anyhow. 
> 
> Please feel free to leave constructive comments, kudos, bookmark, subscribe this story and whatnot.
> 
> Cheers! Hope you have a good day :D


End file.
